Thousands of Teddy Bears Tossed Onto Ice at Hockey Game for Charity

The Calgary Hitmen, a junior hockey team of the Western Hockey League, held their Annual Teddy Bear toss as they took on the Moose Jaw Warriors at the Scotiabank Saddledome Sunday.

The bears will go toward putting smiles on children’s faces, just in time for Christmas.

In the first period of the game, Hitmen defenseman Vladislav Yeryomenko scored and a cascading waterfall of stuffed toys from energetic fans fell to the ice, more than 20,000 of them.

The toys will be distributed to dozens of local agencies, which in turn give them to children.

Over the past 23 years, the Hitmen have collected an impressive 347,948 stuffed toys — including a world record of 28,815 two years ago, according to the Calgary Sun.

Mike Moore, Hitmen vice-president and alternate governor, was pleased at the turnout.

“We had 18,000 fans here today that watched junior hockey and a pretty good hockey game against a very good hockey team and saw a community event that’s world class, world famous and gives back to over 60 agencies in our community,” Moore told the paper. “We can’t thank the fans enough."